8 Actors Who Were Sadly Wasted In X-Men Movies

With superhero films having grown into the most profitable movie genre over the past couple of decades, more and more great actors are lining up to play roles alongside spandex-covered heroes. The X-Men franchise has always managed to nab high quality performers, from proper thespians like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in the original trilogy to younger, upcoming talent like Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and James McAvoy in the prequel films. However, while those actors have all been served pretty well by the series, other stars have been stuck in terribly underwritten roles. In some cases they've just been cast in the wrong parts (Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut?!), but, more often than not, the casting is perfect. It's just the execution of the character that's at fault. Just as there are a bunch of actors who've been given the short straw in Marvel movies, here are 8 talents who were sadly wasted in the X-Men series. 8) Ryan Reynolds Of all the mistakes in the X-Men franchise, the treatment of Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine has surely got to be the worst. While other comics character have not been transferred completely faithfully to the big screen, they at least kept their defining trait. Not so with Ryan Reynolds’s first go at playing Deadpool. For some insane reason, they decided that a character often nicknamed the Merc with a Mouth shouldn’t actually have a mouth. Obviously, this one can be brushed under the carpet now, as everything was belatedly set right this year. Such a perfect bit of casting was Ryan Reynolds that he was brought back to play a rebooted, much more accurate version of Deadpool in his own solo movie, which released to extremely positive reviews back in February. If only every other actor on this list was lucky enough to get another go. 7) Omar Sy Neither actor Omar Sy nor Bishop, the character he played in X-Men Days of Future Past, are particularly big names, but they both had a lot of potential that was mostly squandered in the film. Bishop is generally depicted as a time traveller in the comics, and is actually the star of a Days of Future Past adaptation in X-Men: The Animated Series. His role in the movie version could have been great, then, but in the end he merely stands around looking intimidating. As for Sy, he showed his talent in 2011’s Intouchables, a French movie that hit it big internationally. On the back of that, he has nabbed roles in Hollywood blockbusters like Jurassic World. Unfortunately, his part in Future Past didn’t give him very much to do. 6) Oscar Isaac When Oscar Isaac was cast as the iconic comic book villain Apocalypse in the closer to the X-Men prequel trilogy, it seemed like an inspired bit of casting. If anyone could bring some humanity to such a thoroughly nasty villain, it was Isaac – who had shown his range in Inside Llewyn Davies, Ex Machina and The Force Awakens. Unfortunately, whether you like the divisive X-Men: Apocalypse or not, it can’t really be argued that Apocalypse was a particularly layered character. A formidable foe he might have been, leaving Isaac to stand around dressed as a certain Power Rangers villain and spout some generic portentous dialogue is a supreme waste of the talented actor’s abilities. 5) Olivia Munn The decision to include Psylocke as one of the Four Horsemen in Apocalypse was actually very late in the day, after it was realized how perfect Olivia Munn would be for the part. While you can’t fault the casting, the late addition of the character really shows. Sadly, Munn has nothing more to do than be Apocalypse’s scantily-clad backing dancer. This is a real shame, as Psylocke (AKA Betsy Braddock) has a long and interesting history in the comics. For one, she is usually a good guy - being the sister of Captain Britain, she would have to be. It’s a real shame that the character couldn’t have switched sides like Storm and joined the X-Men as well. She'll surely reappear in the next movie though, so hopefully Munn will become an ally to the team and actually, you know, have more than two lines of dialogue. 4) Ellen Page Kitty Pryde is one of the most beloved X-Men characters in the source material, joining the team in the X-Men’s golden age in the 1970s as the audience’s identification figure and growing into a capable woman over the years. There was a lot to mine for the movies, then, and with Ellen Page perfectly cast in the role, Pryde was set for great things. Sadly, her big appearance on the silver screen came in X-Men: The Last Stand, a movie with far too much going on to give Page and her character much to do. Unfortunately, she was stuck in a boring love triangle with Iceman and Rogue. Things only got worse in Days of Future Past, where Kitty’s starring role in the comics storyline was swapped for more Hugh Jackman, with Page now reduced to wincing and holding Logan’s temples. 3) Kelsey Grammer Another favourite character who made their big debut in The Last Stand was Hank McCoy AKA Beast, one of the founding members of the X-Men. Kelsey Grammer’s casting was one of the best things about the film, but unfortunately, he's been terribly shortchanged in the franchise since then. Obviously, the notion to turn back the clock was the best direction for the series as a whole, but it did mean we lost Grammer’s Beast in exchange for Nicholas Hoult’s version. The young actor has had his moments, but mostly he's an extraneous figure in proceedings. Grammer has been very vocal about his love for the character though and successfully campaigned to get himself a cameo in Days of Future Past, so who knows, maybe he'll show up again somewhere? 2) Ben Foster Ben Foster isn’t a household name, but he is an intense performer, with a gift for portraying psychologically-interesting characters (for instance, his turn as a serial killer in 3:10 to Yuma). Given that, he was fascinating choice to play Warren Worthington III AKA Angel, another founding X-Man, in The Last Stand. Needless to say, just like Page, Foster had little to do in the role. He did have a minor arc, as Warren comes to terms with being a mutant and defies his father, but it isn’t a particularly taxing storyline for the actor to portray. It would have been interesting to see more from Warren in another movie, but he unfortunately, he was yet another casualty of the change in direction for the series. 1) James Marsden Found at the top of the list of common fan grievances about the X-Men movies is the underuse of Cyclops. In the comics, Scott Summers is the long-standing leader of the team. Other characters might be more interesting, but he's so staunchly brave and heroic that you have to like him. In the films, however, Scott is merely the gooseberry in the love story of Logan and Jean. He doesn’t even get to lead the team, with that duty often being taken on by Wolverine, Storm or even Magneto and Mystique. James Marsden is a great actor when he’s given the right material (he’s particularly gifted at comedy), but he gets nothing to grapple with as Cyclops here.